Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives 4Runner oil change

BMW went to 10W-60 in their S54 engines because they had a problem with rod bearings failing, it was a band aid approach to a design deficiency that didn't really work. If it had been designed correctly from the beginning there would be no need for that oil.

I'll go out on a limb and say a Civic motor is almost certainly built to "higher standards and tighter tolerances" than the Ferrari engine. How many Ferrari's do you see regularly going to 300K+ miles like a Civic? More expensive doesn't mean better.

BMW's issues were a combination of hi RPM (8000 redline), over 100 bhp/liter output, and rod bolts that were stretching and failing. To their credit, they did initiate a campaign on affected engines to install upgraded bearings, but if you wanted better rod bolts, you had to spring for ARP's.

Two changes using Mobil ONE filters from Walmart.. $10 each..
and supposedly good for 20,000 miles...

So I tested it out on my old 93 Camry.... sent the oil in to be analysed

They recommended running it to 23K and resend it in...specs and TBN were still good.

Oil was Mobil 1, 0W30.. which was left in there for 20K..

Same thing on the wife's 04 Camry, which she drives around town mainly...
20K on 0W20, and Mobil ONE filter....

analysis at Blackstone came back strong... filter was doing its job..
oil still had a fair TBN life left in it....run it 3K more and sent it in or run next change 23K and send it in...

neither engine showed any sludge or varnish when looking down the Oil filler cap, or at the place you screw the oil filter in at either....

I use the extended mobile 1 filters... they work great in my Tacoma.

One word of caution on the Wix air filters, they are too restrictive and can make you taco engine whine at high revs.... replace it with an Fram and it goes away.

BTW - I oil gets dirty and goes bad before it breaks down (at least synthetics) so I still change mine out around 5k.

If you ever want to see what accumulates in the bottom of your engine, try changing your old oil into a white refrigerator vegetable crisper pan. Oil changing was never much of a priority for my daughter and just seeing the difference a couple thousand more miles made in accumulated sludge in her engine oil and my engine oil has me changing more often to get rid of the dirt. I've got an extra $20.00 or so lying around for new oil with filter and the time to change it, so the peace of mind of having cleaner oil has always been worth it to me.

I changes oil for my 4runner every 5k, Mobil one 5w30.

This is the filter for my '18 Toyota Highlander. It also takes a special filter wrench to get the canister off. I'm just coming up on the 1st oil change since we bought it this summer so I haven't actually done it yet. The gizmo in the upper right is a plastic thing you stick in the bolt hole. It apparently opens a valve in the filter housing so it drains.

My tacoma is a 4.0. filter right on top . Don't even need to jack it up.

That is what I have. You also have to take off a shield that has 1/2 dozen bolts. They make an easy job difficult. I just ordered the oil filter wrench from Amazon, the better one is machined aluminum. I think it was 25 bucks.
I also think there are still grease fittings. So I'll be on youtube for first time pointers.
I prefer to do it myself, so I know it was actually done.

these have to be a real PIA for the DIY oil change guys...

Prob why Toyota designed it that way

nuthin like the 4.0L motor

It's probably like $28 to do it yourself.

My 5.7 Tundra has the same filter setup. Biggest pain in butt is getting the wrench. Autozone had one.

Remove skid plate with impact driver. Drain pan like any other vehicle. Remove the drain bolt in the filter cap. Snap in the plastic “spout” that comes with the filter. Drain filter. Spin filter cap off. Insert new filter. Spin it all back together. No mess from a full filter because it was drained before removal.

It is 6.6 quarts synthetic 0-20W, and the filters were something like 7 bucks on Amazon for OEM Toyota filters.

Tikka, that bigger Wix filter you show in your pick, is just a Napa/Wix version of the good old Ford FL1A.....like Ford I 6 and V8s has had since the 50s...

I've done changes on the Toyota's 4 .0 V6 ( 2012 range )....for that I use what I use on my old 88 4 Runner... Mobil One Filter from Wally World, its the narrower Ford Filter but almost as long....Ford's number was the Fl 400.... the Mobil One Filter number is # M 209 A.....Mobil One says they are good for 20K.... I've ran a batch of them on my vehicles 15 to 20K... oil analysis with Mobil One Oil ( and Walmart Synthetic Oil), have still come back with good TBN numbers in the 2.5 to 3.5 range... with recommendations to run them 3K more next time and send them in for analysis...

those filters are $10 at Walmart.....that is where I purchase my oil and filters.. always synthetic...

so far on the high mileage vehicles I drive, 280K on the Pilot, and 570K on the old 22 RE in the 4 Runner...

in the type of mileage I do, like 30 to 40K a year on the Pilot, and now will be also putting 30K a year on the 4 cylinder Camry I picked up...

For those that hate 20 wt oils, look on Mobil One's site and they have the spec for the oil at 32 degrees F, and 212 degrees F.....
Mobil also makes a 0 W 30 and also a 0 w 40....the specs on the 0 w 40, its one hell of tough oil, viscosity index of 186, and TBN of 11.0 or 12.0

Test 0 W 20 in a high mile 94 Camry, with 300K on it, to 350K on it... its consumption was no more or less than 5W40 diesel truck oil....Delvac Mobil One.
20K oil changes with good analysis after sending in to Blackstone...still usuable TBN, and other items within specs...

change valve covers every 50K, which I am ridiculed for around here,. each time show that those 20K oil changes still have zero sludge or varnish build up....

so Mobil One and 10K oil changes with those Mobil One filters, analysis says that the oil can go twice that mileage and more....

That 94 Camry had 350K when I gave it to a gal I knew in need of a car for her and her 3 kids....at 400K, it was stolen by some local meth heads and totaled by running it off the road and down a steep bank....the motor out lasted the car sadly due to that...

This...^^^^^^^^^^^

I've done a bunch of those also over at the college showing 1st year automotive students...

its not that complicated... but I miss a good old spin on filters, and especially when they mounted them on the top of that 4.0...

I am sure 4..0s in other markets still have the filter on the top....USA dealers complained their service shop weren't making enough money....is what I'll betcha.....

I have the dealer do my 2015 Silverado. 8.5 qts 0-20 Dexos full synthetic, filter, tire rotation, check and fill fluids, multi point inspection, $59.99. Right around 7000 miles I have the service done, oil monitor reads about 3-7% oil life. Takes about 45 - 60 minutes while I wait. Best thing since sliced bread. If I buy the 9 qts and quality filter ?? $45....I'll let the dealer do it for the $15.

I did the 4Runner oil change on a rainy day. It was not too bad. I guess it took 10 more minutes to take off the 3 shields. I took off a plastic air dam to get to the skid plate, and of course the shield for the oil plug. The process of the internal filter and orings is a bit silly and naturally takes a few extra minutes and a special oil filter wrench. The item I missed was having new oil plug gasket/washer. I reused the original. I'm going to NAPA and get a handful. I also ordered 3 factory oil filters from Amazon, so that was pretty cheap, maybe 7 bucks a pop.
So I really can't say it was difficult, but it just takes more time, and is really silly compared to a spin on filter on top of the engine like the older 4.0 motors. Cost was probably 35 bucks for 6.6 quarts 0-20 synthetic and filter.

I ordered a factory Toyota filter from eBay for $7. Should be here today. Now I see that Walmart has them on the shelf at same price